Overstretched facilities

Lab work at the Lassa fever research unit at Irrua hospital. The specialist facility -- unique to West Africa -- was built in 2008

(AFP)

A visit to the Lassa fever isolation ward at the Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital in southern Edo State -- the only such unit in a country of 190 million people -- provides a snapshot of the practical difficulties in tackling the peril.

Before the unit was built in 2008, suspect blood samples were sent to South Africa for an accurate diagnosis -- but when the results came back it was already too late, doctors say.

Despite its unique status, the Lassa facility, staffed by a dozen Nigerian employees and a handful of European tropical medicine specialists, is struggling.

In normal times, it treats just a couple of dozen patients each year. But since the start of 2018, the unit has already admitted more than 150.

"Now we have just below 30 patients," said director Ephraim Ogbaini-Emovon. "We never recorded this (in previous years). Facilities are overstretched."

Dead rats in jars of formaldehyde decorated the corridors of the small clinic. Inside the isolation ward, the temperature was stifling at above 40°C (104°F) degrees.

Kevin Ousman, who specialises in combating viral risks at the World Health Organization (WHO), spends his days reminding people of basic protection.

Wilson Oherein's wife was killed by Lassa fever and the virus has also infected their three-year-old daughter

(AFP)

Wilson Oherein had heard only vaguely of Lassa fever before his wife contracted the disease, to die of it a few days ago.

Their three-year-old daughter was also contaminated by Lassa fever and she was being cared for in the isolation ward at Irrua.

Oherein usually spends his days at his daughter's bedside and feeds her. He also takes her soiled garments and washes them in a bucket. But this afternoon, he is resting in a half-finished building behind the hospital, with other family members of patients.

He is lying, exhausted, on a mat on the floor. "I will be fine," he tries to convince himself, his forehead beaded with sweat. "I'm just anxious for my daughter and the mourning of my wife. It knocks me down."